WEEKEND EDITION: ODDZ 'N ENDZ

This weekend I've been cruising through nearly twenty years' worth of posts to my blog. Here are a few of the items I found.

March 21, 2001. Marti and I attended the opening of The Sex Obsession of R. Crumb, a major exhibition of the artist's work at the Musée de l’Erotisme de Paris. We hung out with Robert for a while, he and his friend Fabienne played a mini-set of the old-timey music he loves so much.




August 26, 2013. Our friend Michael Herrman, joined by The G Man on bass and Serigne Gueye on drums and percussion, performed a couple of tunes at the Chair de Poule. Michael told me later that he had issues with Serigne's playing, but frankly I thought it helped ameliorate that arch Portland sound in the music.

September 29, 2000. Grateful Dead Hour radio host David Gans, visiting Paris with his wife Rita & an entire posse of Northern California friends, joined several members of the Parisian tribute band Deadicace for a jam session. When David first phoned the day before, I mentioned that Marti & I had a bunch of French friends here who played Grateful Dead music. He said he'd be thrilled to meet them. So I got on the horn & within a couple of hours we had organized a gathering at Christine & Bill Giles' apartment on the Quai Malaquais. I brought along the Gurian acoustic guitar I inherited from my late brother Peter (and later restored) for David to play.

April 10, 2009. Departing Amsterdam after a pair of Bob Dylan concerts at the Heineken Music Hall.




May 28, 2012. Pentecost. A Monday holiday in France. Footage shot in the 15th arrondissement of Paris. Locations include Square Adolphe Cherioux, Place de la Mairie du XV, Rue Peclet and Square Saint-Lambert. All within a block or two of our apartment building.

February 10, 2001. Our friend Alan Merrill, who wrote "I Love Rock 'n Roll," plays at one of the acoustic jams we used to stage at the little couscous restaurant across the street from our apartment. Doug Brodoff and Marti are in the back singing along.




May 30, 2012. Chris Kenna & Melissa Cox in concert at L'inattendu, a bar-restaurant I believe they only played this one time.

June 17, 1998. Widespread Panic after party at Le Bataclan. Marti, Nikki Matheson, Christophe Rossi and John Bell.

November 29, 2007. After many years of filling out and submitting and resubmitting forms detailing just about every detail of our long lives, Marti and I were naturalized as citizens of France. This development did not affect our U.S. status in any way. Except that now we were card-carrying members of two populations that half the planet hates.

And looking ahead: the view from the balcony of the apartment I'll be renting for several months this fall and winter at Agios Mammas beach on the Greek island of Spetses.